I'm finishing an accredited, nationally-acclaimed, highly-ranked masters program at a state college that does not require any standardized test or entrance exam. Group papers were ubiquitous. I've worked with many people over the last two years. Half of them read and write at a highschool level or lower. I am not exaggerating. It makes me question the validity of school rankings. I doubt that these people would have passed the GRE. I took the GRE. I did okay--not great, but my score was good enough to get into just about any program.
I think there needs to be some sort of pre-entrance assessment to ensure that people can do graduate-level work. If not the GRE or another standardized test, then some type of assessment. Or, boot people who can't perform. Admitting people who are incompetent and then piping them through the program with lenient grading and groupwork, while it may be job security for administrators and faculty, is unfair to those students who pull the groupwork load. It also contributes to the overproduction that has diminished the value of advanced degrees.
